


True Love Waits... And The Rest Of Us Get On With Our Lives

by MonsterTesk



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, I honestly hope this makes you depressed, M/M, Mutually unrequited love, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-17
Updated: 2012-07-17
Packaged: 2017-11-10 03:17:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/461637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonsterTesk/pseuds/MonsterTesk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles waited for Lydia. Erica waited Stiles. Lydia waited for no one. Scott and Allison had been waiting their wholes lives. Jackson waited for someone to accept him. Stiles moved on. Danny didn't wait. Derek waits for Stiles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	True Love Waits... And The Rest Of Us Get On With Our Lives

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this makes you ugly cry.

Stiles fell in love with Lydia in the third grade when she trounced him in class. She probably didn't even remember him, probably didn't even think him of enough note to even briefly think on the event. He noticed her and fell in love and waited for her to notice him. 

He waited through fourth grade where she went through her phase of only ever wearing sandals and painting her nails with glitter.

He waited through fifth grade where she was given the math text book for the next year up because she'd finished everything in the one the rest of the class was a quarter of the way through. 

He waited through sixth grade where she discovered a liking for boys. 

He waited through seventh grade where boys discovered a liking for her.

He waited through eighth grade where she discovered her love of lacrosse. 

He waited on the bench in ninth grade for her to notice him on the lacrosse team.

He waited for as long as he could in tenth grade before it became obvious that Lydia wasn't waiting for any boy to notice her. 

Stiles lingered, knowing already that he would always feel something for her. 

Erica fell in love with Stiles in ninth grade when he sat down next to her in biology as if she wasn't the town freak. She loved the way he talked to her like she was just another classmate, as if she wasn't something everyone made fun of whenever they could. She loved how smart he was and how much energy he had. She loved how loyal he obviously was to his best friend and how funny he was. She loved the mole on the side of his face and his expressive eyebrows and especially his ears. She would have given anything for him to notice her. 

She waited all semester, hoping. 

During the summer whenever he passed her in town she wished with her whole being that he'd notice her and say hi, ask her how she was. 

She waited in tenth grade for him to remember it was her who had sat next to him in biology. 

She waited and waited for him to notice how much she liked him. 

Then she got the bite and knew, _knew_  that he would never notice her unless she made herself something to be noticed. 

Lydia has always been the smartest person in the class, has always been the prettiest, the cutest, the most adorable girl in the room because she likes to excel and has always done so. 

She had always known Jackson to some extent- knew of him or his name or a few of his friends- so it was never so much discovering someone she could be with but something they had grown together. With help, of course. Without Danny and a few of their other friends, both of them would have shredded each other to pieces long ago. But... but she likes Jackson. May even one day love him. Likes the way he croons about his car, likes how hard working he is, how much he succeeds at what he puts his mind to, likes the curve of his shoulders and way he walks. It's not that there had never been any other choice for her, simply that she liked him and he liked her and they were both more lonely than they let on and enjoyed that subconscious feeling as if they had made in each other someone who could understand. 

The moment he laid eyes on her every other girl that Scott had ever looked at faded into the background of nothingness. No one had ever mattered as much as she had, no one would ever stand out as much as she did. He felt he had been waiting his whole like for her without knowing it and... amazingly enough, she felt the same way. When they were together it was like two halves became one. She smiled and his heart shone, he laughed and her heart bubbled with joy. They both felt as if they had been inextricably drawn to each other no matter what. When they were together, they were who they were supposed to be. 

Jackson would never admit that he was waiting for anyone because he was sure that that someone just didn't exist. He was waiting for someone to make him feel wanted and safe and accepted and cared for, without regard to his many bad faults and failures. Possibly even because of them. He was waiting for someone who wouldn't give up on him no matter what and would always be willing to show him how much he was welcomed. He never said any of this, though. Not to Danny, not to Lydia, not to anyone. And maybe that's why he is constantly so frustrated and angry at everyone. Because they don't understand how much he needs them to accept him as he is, prickles and all. Sure, Danny puts up with him best and supports him the most but he still feels as though if he doesn't test it, doesn't see just how strong the bond is, that it will atrophy and weaken to the point where Danny doesn't want or care for him anymore. The feeling is doubly worse when it comes to Lydia. He is so afraid all of the time of losing her that he can't even reign in his desire to see how durable what they have is. 

Danny had never been the kind of person to let things sit and ripen on their own. When he was ten he got sick from trying to eat the crab apples off of one of the trees the city planted for decoration before they finished ripening. It was very bitter and hardly juicy but Danny to this day says it was worth climbing the tree for. So when he sees Stiles move on from Lydia and start to come into his own, Danny realizes just what a catch he is. Stiles is funny, energetic, smart (if a bit too spastic for it to show in class), capable, and earnest. When they do projects together for class, Danny realizes just how sharp he is. And when he manipulates his "cousin" into parading around topless (and wow, what a fucking adonis that guy was), Danny realizes that Stiles is the kind of person who will do nearly anything to achieve his goals and, as evidenced by his close friendship with Jackson, is something he values highly. It also brought to light the fact that Stiles may not be so straight as Danny assumed he was... 

That's when Danny catches himself laughing at even Stiles' more stupid jokes. Then he's purposely sitting closer to Stiles and both consciously and unconsciously reaching out to touch him. The last time he does it, reaches out his hand and lays it on Stiles, he can see clearly how nervous Stiles gets, how he licks his lips and fidgets briefly as if he's expecting something. They're both expecting it, really. 

So Danny leans in, ignoring their history project on the table, and lightly kisses Stiles. Their knees bump together and Danny can hear Stiles' shaky breath when he pulls back. He watches Stiles lick his lips again. Danny bites his lip before sliding his hand up higher, resting on Stiles' wrist. 

Derek had always felt like he was waiting for something, as if his life just wasn't started yet and that any day now something would happen and it would magically start. When his family died the feeling just got stronger. He felt as if he were in hibernation, waiting for whatever made spring come. Then Laura died. Then he killed Peter. He didn't feel as if it had happened yet. This couldn't be his life. His life couldn't be him, indirectly or directly, being the the cause of everyone he cared about's death. He refused to let that be. When he was younger and he'd confide in his mom about this feeling of waiting, of anticipation, she'd tell him that he was waiting for his mate, his one. Someone who would simply be a part of Derek, who was intrinsic to Derek's being. 

The first time he saw Stiles he felt the pull of it, as if some invisible cord in his chest were being tugged for the first time. Before they could hear or see him, he stumbled, caught off balance by the strong pull towards the boy. When they met, he felt nervous, shaky, afraid to mess up for fear of being rejected. Somehow it seemed to be the only thing he could do. Then he got bitter, angry, because should't Stiles feel it, too? Shouldn't he feel as drawn to and enthralled with Derek the way Derek was to him? But he wasn't at all. He was hopelessly in love with an unattainable girl and seemed to feel nothing for Derek. 

In the corrosive silences they shared Derek would feel tempted, oh so tempted, to tell Stiles, to reach out to Stiles, to beg and plead and bear his soul to him. Instead he'd clench his jaw and glare harder because Stiles didn't want him, Stiles hated him, Stiles suggested they kill Derek every opportunity they got. Stiles didn't trust Derek worth a damn which hurt Derek so much because he had trusted Stiles since before he'd even known him. 

Sometimes Derek would think they'd share a moment. Stiles would be closer than he had to be or he'd _look_ at Derek and Derek would feel his heart pang like someone had shot a gun inside a tank. He gathered hope from these moments, convinced himself that all he had to do was wait and one day Stiles would be his. 

The hope got stronger when Derek realized that Stiles was over Lydia. Maybe he still felt fond for her but he held no candle for her romantically. Derek felt like he was soaring in hope, already impatient for what would inevitably happen. 

One night Derek climbed up onto Stiles' roof outside his window, in his hand he had an old book, passed down through his family as a precious heirloom. It was one of the few things that survived The Fire. Derek had been careful in selecting the book, in selecting the flower now delicately pressed between the pages. He felt it would be the best gift he could offer Stiles. He hoped that it would make Stiles realize fully how much Derek meant to him and how much he meant to Derek. 

There he stood, book in hand, as he watched another man lean over and lay a gentle kiss on Stiles' lips. He watched as Danny drew back and slid his hand more over Stiles'. He heard every word they said like a bullet to his heart made out of the wolfsbain flower he now had pressed in the book in his hand. 

"What was that for?"

"Because I like you, Stiles, and I want to be more than friends." 

The killing blow was the beautifully brilliant smile that transformed Stiles' face and seemed to light up the whole room. 

**Author's Note:**

> I will probably reuse this title like it's that glad tupperware that deli meat comes in.  
> Also title take from Greta Christina's blog.


End file.
